Isles Wives Help Pack 1,300 Backpacks at Island Harvest

The New York Islanders stepped up in the fight against childhood hunger on Friday morning.
The Islanders Children's Foundation made a $25,000 donation to Island Harvest, which will supply 75 kids with meals for 36 weeks as part of the Kids Weekend Backpack Feeding Program. The program aims to provide children with food insecurity healthy and nutritious meals over the weekends, when they don't have access to school lunch and breakfast programs.

"We can't function without support from the community and the financial support we get from the New York Islanders is absolutely incredible," Randi Shubin Dresner, the President and CEO of Island Harvest, said. "The program they're helping us to sort the food and package it is going to allow us to buy even more food to support the kids who are enrolled in this program."

In addition to the monetary donation, the Islanders wives and girlfriends helped pack 1,300 backpacks that will be distributed to children in need.
"We want to do a little more to just give back in any way because you can't imagine a child going home and worrying about what their next meal is going to be coming from," Meg Bailey said. "A lot of us with kids, it's heartbreaking, so anything we can do to help these kids fill their bellies to then feed their minds and it's just amazing."
The gesture from the wives, many of whom have their own children, was appreciated by Island Harvest.
"We have so much work that has to get done and we can't do it on our own," Shubin Dresner said. "We have a relatively small staff, but it's the work we do with volunteers that really helps to make sure we can have an impact. Today we have the fortune to have Islanders wives here helping us out and that's just so special to us because they're doing a project that I know is important to them."
Learn more about Island Harvest here.